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<h1>Trying things in Japanese</h1>
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<p align="right"><i>Do or do not.  There is no try.</i>
<br />-Yoda</p>

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<center><span class="summary">Outline</span></center>
<ol>
<li><a href="#part1">Let's try some stuff</a></li>
<li><a href="#part2">To try something out</a></li>
<li><a href="#part3">To attempt to do something</a></li>
</ol>
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<h2  id="part1">Let's try some stuff</h2>
In English, we use the word, "try" to mean both "to try something out" and "to make an effort to do something".  In Japanese, these are
separate grammatical expressions.  For instance, "I tried the cherry flavor" and "I tried to do homework" mean quite different things and though
English does not make a distinction, Japanese does.

<h2 id="part2">To try something out</h2>
To try something out, you simply need to change the verb to the te-form and add 「<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みる</span>」.  If it helps you to remember, you can think of it as a
sequence of an action and then seeing the result.  In fact 「<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みる</span>」 conjugates just like 「<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見る</span>」.
However, just like the <a href="desire.html#part3">「～て<span title="ほしい - wanted, desirable" class="popup">ほしい</span>」</a> grammar we learned, this is a set phrase and 「<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みる</span>」 is usually
written in hiragana.


<div class="sumbox">
<span class="summary">Summary</span>
<ul class="plain">
<li>To say you tried something out, take the action, conjugate it to the <a href="compound.html#part3"><i>te-form</i></a> and add 「<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みる</span>」.</li>
<li>例）　<span title="きる - to cut" class="popup">切る</span> → <span title="きる - to cut" class="popup">切<em>って</em></span> → <span title="きる - to cut" class="popup">切って</span><em><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みる</span></em></li>
<li>You can treat the whole result as a regular verb just as you would with 「<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見る</span>」.</li>
<li>例）　<span title="きる - to cut" class="popup">切って</span><em><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みる</span></em>、<span title="きる - to cut" class="popup">切って</span><em><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みた</span></em>、<span title="きる - to cut" class="popup">切って</span><em><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みない</span></em>、<span title="きる - to cut" class="popup">切って</span><em><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みなかった</span></em></li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples</h3>
（１）　<span title="おこのみやき - pizza-like pancake fried with various ingredients" class="popup">お好み焼き</span>を<span title="はじめて - for the first time" class="popup">始めて</span><em><span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べて</span><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みた</span></em>けど、<span title="とても - very" class="popup">とても</span><span title="おいしい - tasty" class="popup">おいしかった</span>！- I tried eating okonomiyaki for the first time and it was very tasty!
<br />（２）　<span title="おさけ - alcohol" class="popup">お酒</span>を<em><span title="のむ - to drink" class="popup">飲んで</span><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みました</span></em>が、<span title="すごい - amazing, to a great extent" class="popup">すごく</span><span title="ねむい - sleepy" class="popup">眠く</span><span title="なる - to become" class="popup">なりました</span>。- I tried drinking alcohol and I became extremely sleepy.
<br />（３）　<span title="あたらしい - new" class="popup">新しい</span><span title="デパート - department store" class="popup">デパート</span>に<em><span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行って</span><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みる</span></em>。- I'm going to check out the new department store.
<br />（４）　<span title="ひろしま - Hiroshima" class="popup">広島</span>の<span title="おこのみやき - pizza-like pancake fried with various ingredients" class="popup">お好み焼き</span>を<em><span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べて</span><span title="みる - to see" class="popup">みたい</span></em>！- I want to try eating Hiroshima okonomiyaki!

<h2 id="part3">To attempt to do something</h2>
We already learned that the <a href="desire.html#part4">volitional form</a> was used to indicate a will to set out to do something.  If you
guessed that this next grammar for attempting to do something would involve the volitional form, you were right.  To say that you tried (as in attempted)
to do something, you need to conjugate the verb into the volitional, enclose it in a quotation (so that we can perform an action on the clause) and
finally add the verb 「<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span>」.  Or put more simply, you just add 「と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span>」 to the volitional form of the verb.  This is simply an extension of the
quoted subordinate clause from the last section.  Instead of saying the quote （<span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言う</span>） or treating it as a thought （<span title="おもう - to think" class="popup">思う</span>、<span title="かんがえる - to consider" class="popup">考える</span>）,
we are simply doing it with 「<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span>」.

<div class="sumbox">
<span class="summary">Summary</span>
<ul class="plain">
<li>To say that you are attempting a certain action, convert the action to the <a href="desire.html#part4"><i>volitional form</i></a> and add 「と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span>」.
</li>
<li>例）　<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見る</span> → <span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見<em>よう</em></span> → <span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見よう</span><em>と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span></em></li>
<li>例）　<span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行く</span> → <span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行<em>こう</em></span> → <span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行こう</span><em>と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span></em></li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>
（１）　<span title="まいにち - every day" class="popup">毎日</span>、<span title="べんきょう - study" class="popup">勉強</span>を<em><span title="さける - to avoid" class="popup">避けよう</span>と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span></em>。
<br />- Everyday, she attempts to avoid study.
</p>
<p>
（２）　<span title="むりやり - forcibly, against one's will" class="popup">無理矢理</span>に<span title="へや - room" class="popup">部屋</span>に<em><span title="はいる - to enter" class="popup">入ろう</span>と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">している</span></em>。
<br />- He is attempting to force his way into the room.
</p>
<p>
（３）　<span title="はやい - fast, early" class="popup">早く</span><em><span title="ねる - to sleep" class="popup">寝よう</span>と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">した</span></em>けど、<span title="けっきょく - in the end" class="popup">結局</span>は<span title="てつや - staying up all night" class="popup">徹夜</span><span title="する - to do" class="popup">した</span>。
<br />- I attempted to sleep early but ended up staying up all night.
</p>
<p>
（４）　<span title="おさけ - alcohol" class="popup">お酒</span>を<em><span title="のむ - to drink" class="popup">飲もう</span>と<span title="する - to do" class="popup">した</span></em>が、<span title="おくさん - wife" class="popup">奥さん</span>が<span title="とめる - to stop" class="popup">止めた</span>。
<br />- He tried to drink alcohol but his wife stopped him.
</p>

<p>Though we use the verb 「<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span>」 to say, "to do attempt", we can use different verbs to do other things with the
attempt. For instance, we can use the verb 「<span title="きめる - to decide" class="popup">決める</span>」 to say, "decide to attempt to do [X]". Here
are some examples of other actions carried out on the attempt.
</p>

<p>
（１）　<span title="べんきょう - study" class="popup">勉強</span>を<span title="なるべく - as much as possible" class="popup">なるべく</span><span title="さける - to avoid" class="popup">避けよう</span>と<em><span title="おもう - to think" class="popup">思った</span></em>。
<br />- I thought I would attempt to avoid studying as much as possible.
</p>
<p>
（２）　<span title="まいにち - every day" class="popup">毎日</span><span title="ジム - gym" class="popup">ジム</span>に<span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行こう</span>と<em><span title="きめる - to decide" class="popup">決めた</span></em>。
<br />- Decided to attempt to go to gym everyday.
</p>


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<div class="small" style="text-align:right;"><pre>This page has last been revised on 2005/3/26</pre></div>

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